Regulation

Jul 14, 2009

Why is clearing so complex?

As mentioned, last week was a clearing and settlement week, with lots of discussions about the issues of clearing in Europe. You would think if it was clearing, it should be clear … but it's a real mess of complexity and confusion if we're honest. In Europe, part of the issue comes down to the…

Jul 14, 2009

Why is clearing so complex?

Jul 14, 2009

Why is clearing so complex?

Jun 30, 2009

Why are we so worried about bonuses?

I got caught up in a debate about pay and remuneration in finance this week. This is because Stephen Hester at RBS had his package hiked to £9.6 million if he delivers all of his targets – of which the main target appears to be achieving a 70 pence share price as that will make…

Jun 24, 2009

How accountable are the rating agencies for this mess?

We all talk about how the rating agencies were, in part, responsible for creating the mess of credit and credit instruments that caused this crisis. After all, they are meant to be rating credit aren't they? But I didn't realise exactly how bad a job these guys had done until I saw this quote: “In…

Jun 24, 2009

How accountable are the rating agencies for this mess?

Jun 18, 2009

Grieving … and the US Banking Reforms

I was trying to think of the future of banking and a model for making this work. This in the context of yesterday's US regulatory reforms announcements (see next blog: “things worth reading”, for the full details of these reforms), and so I scrabbled about wondering what happens as we go forward. Then, bearing in…

Jun 18, 2009

Grieving … and the US Banking Reforms

Jun 12, 2009

A compliance culture or function?

Over a dinner this week, there was a fascinating discussion about the role of compliance. Compliance. A culture or a function? A view of complying and being subservient or of being proactively compliant. Compliance as a painful enforced change or an opportunity to re-engineer and improve. Compliance. Threat or opportunity? To be truthful, compliance can…